


for it's always pleasant to be believed in

by middlemarch



Category: Little Women (2018), Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott, Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Conversations, F/M, Female Friendship, Friedrich still with the thees and thous, Jealousy, Marriage, Post-War, Vignette, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27887059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/middlemarch/pseuds/middlemarch
Summary: Mrs. Henry Hopkins didn't simper or smirk. She was quick and neat and solemn and Jo could not help wanting to make a good deal of noise whenever she was about.
Relationships: Emma Green & Mary Phinney, Emma Green/Henry Hopkins, Friedrich Bhaer/Josephine March, Jedediah "Jed" Foster/Mary Phinney, Josephine March & Mary Phinney
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Mercy Street Crossover Advent Silver and AU





	for it's always pleasant to be believed in

“I declare, I can barely fathom why Polly keeps such a friend as Mrs. Hopkins! She, Mrs. Hopkins that is, hardly has two words to say for herself and when she does, it’s like you’re drowning in molasses, the words are so sweet and so dreadfully slow,” Jo exclaimed. She and Friedrich finally had a moment to themselves, though it had taken the whole day to claim it from work and the children and the ever-ticking clock, and now they were both sitting half-buried in quilts against the chilly night. Friedrich had even wrapped a shawl around his broad shoulders and it should have looked womanish but Jo found it was even more attractive than his best broadcloth suit jacket. He had a book on what might be his lap beneath the patchwork but he’d stopped reading when she spoke.

“Canst thou not understand, _Liebling_?” he said.

“Oh, they were nurses together and saw such sights as would terrify mere mortals, I suppose. Like soldiers home from the wars, who share a bond unbreakable,” Jo said airily. Then she shivered and Friedrich took her in his arms, lovely warm arms under the lovely warm shawl.

“It is not only that,” he said.

“Mrs. Foster—”

“You must call her Polly as you call Meg ‘Meg’ and Amy ‘Amy,’” Jo said. “You cannot stand on ceremony with Polly Foster and well you know it.”

“As thou wilst. Thy friend is one to see the one lamb cast from the flock, to see her and seek her,” Friedrich said, his voice deep and deliciously rumbly against Jo’s back.

“Do you mean to call Mrs. Hopkins a lost lamb?” Jo cried before the sound of Friedrich’s gentle tsk tsk reached her.

“Dost thou mean to call her a lost lamb?” Jo corrected herself to please his ear and was rewarded with a very pleasant caress beneath the shawl. “For all she’s the wife of a minister and a professor, a great beauty and the envy of every one of Reverend Hopkins’s lady parishioners?” 

“She has left all she knew to come here, hasn’t she? She carries the burden of knowing she could have done more and did not, that those she loved best did evil, yes, evil unto others,” Friedrich said. “Polly sees this and knows Mrs. Hopkins wouldst not speak a word for herself, certainly not of missing those she once held dear.”

“How it is that no matter what I say, what fit of pique or temper I have, thou speak so calmly, so kindly to me?” Jo said, her embarrassment in her flushed cheeks, in her abashed voice.

“Because thou art just as generous with me. Thou art a little envious of Mrs. Hopkins, for the care Polly gives her, the way Dr. Foster teases her instead of thee, and I cannot say I love thee less for it, _meine_ Josephine, for I find thee perfect, even in thy smallest flaws,” Friedrich said as he tightened his arms around her and brushed his lips against her temple and then her cheek.

And then her lips, for she turned in his embrace, all thoughts of Emma Hopkins and Polly Foster fled from her mind, her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Little Women.


End file.
